Russia says it will seek ways to overcome any sanctions the European Union imposes on its LNG operations.
Reuters’ reported that the European Commission is expected to impose sanctions on Russian LNG, including its operational Yamal LNG project, and transshipments of cargoes from Russia in terminals in Europe, possibly this week.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at the weekend: “Attempts to squeeze Russia out of energy markets and switch to more expensive markets are continuing.”
He said it will be necessary to see what the EU plans to impose.
Peskov said any new EU restrictions to push out Russian LNG would benefit the US and other producers and mean European industry pays more for its gas.
“The shift to more expensive markets is first of all profitable for the US, for a number of other countries, of course,” he said. “For final consumers, mainly industrial sectors of Europe, it will mean more expensive gas.
“We will obviously search for ways to overcome those illegal obstacles. Unfair and illegal competition.”
Russia is battling to start up its delayed Arctic LNG 2 project but Western sanctions have blocked shipping, equipment, infrastructure and the development itself.
Asked about Europe’s rumoured new sanctions on Russian LNG, TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said on Friday in a results call that any block on the Yamal LNG project would cause prices to spike and profit sellers globally, including his own company.
Pouyanne said TotalEnergies will announce force majeure under its contracts with Novatek’s Yamal LNG project in the Russian Arctic if the EU introduces sanctions on Russian LNG.
The company has two contracts for supplies to Europe from the Yamal LNG project and one for Asia that requires closer consideration, he said.
Several European nations have also begun to make their positions clear.
Italian energy minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin told Politico on Friday: “Italy is right now in a condition to even do without Russian gas altogether.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Italy has diversified its gas supply and increased its LNG import capabilities.
In March, Spanish energy minister Teresa Ribera called for the EU to take a coordinated stance on the phase-out of Russian LNG.
Finland’s minister of climate & the environment, Kai Mykkanen, said in January that the government was preparing to ban the import of Russian LNG from 2025.
In April, the European Parliament voted to pass rules allowing individual member states to block imports by stopping Russian companies from booking gas infrastructure capacity.
But this month the EU energy watchdog, Acer, warned that the bloc still needs Russian LNG and said efforts to curb Europe’s record imports of Russian LNG “should be approached with caution” and considered in gradual steps.
